Into the Darkness

 

The icy coldness of the stone beneath her body stirred her feebly from the darkness of her nightmares.  She tried to raise her head, but it felt like a jackhammer was tearing into her skull.  As she tried to get her bearings and remember where she was, all the memories came flooding back, the failed burglary, the church, and Him.  He was foremost in her memories then, the gentle laughter, the coldness in his face as he looked down upon her, his eyes never leaving hers as they reflected the horror within that church.  As she tried to shut out the pain she could hear movement on the stone steps.  She turned not even seeing the crypt turned dungeon that she was trapped in.  Fear filled her entire body as she heard Basta coming towards her, that raspy, whispering voice calling out, taunting her. 

“Well ‘Morning my pretty little thief” Basta whispered as he drew nearer to her cage. “Decided to wake up and join us have you?”

Lisa tried to turn away, so as not to look into that hateful face.  He unlocked the cell and slowly knelt beside her.  She could smell the mint on his breath and the blood on his hands as he tried to raise her gently from her position on the floor.  She could feel his gaze raking in every part of her body, looking into her eyes, longingly.  Slowly he stroked her face with his hand, running his fingers over her lips.  He moved his mouth towards hers, looking into her eyes, wanting her.  

She lashed out at him, attempting to push him away at the same time as trying to scratch and hit every inch of him.  Basta seized her around the throat, squeezing harder and harder on her windpipe.  She could see the lust in his face then, the sadistic pleasure he was getting from watching her life slip away.  She tried to cry out but no sound would come.  She could feel her thoughts slipping away, could see the darkness closing in around her.  Then, as quickly as he had grabbed her, Basta let go of her throat.  He pulled her to her feet and she was doubled up gasping in huge gulps of air, grateful for every breath.  She raised herself up and looked Basta full in the face, willing all her pain and hatred onto him, wishing him dead that very moment.

“Stay away from me, you fucking, murdering cunt” she spat at him.

With a speed that shocked her almost as much as his actions, Basta smacked her full in the face.  Her head snapped back and met the solid stone wall with a crack and Lisa felt as though her head was splitting in two.  Basta chuckled softly and malevolently.

“I’ve got some nice little surprises for you Sweetheart” he breathed. 

With that, he pulled her roughly out of the cell door and dragged her across the dungeon.  Lisa felt as though all the fight had left her.  She couldn’t see or think straight.  At that moment she realised she didn’t even care where he was taking her.  Basta grabbed her more firmly by the back of her neck and steered her towards the top of the steps.  He pushed her outside to the square in front of the Church.  The daylight was blinding compared to the gloom and oppression of the dank crypt.  Basta stopped her directly in front of the Church doors.  He started to move his fingers slowly into her hair, breathing her in as he did so.  He lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered as he caressed her hair:

“Look up Sweetheart.  There’s a present for you up there”

Tremulously, Lisa raised her eyes towards the top of the Church tower.  She could see the blood slowly trickling down the wall, like a silent stream coming from the cage strung from the walls.  The carrion crows had been feasting well on the body above her.

She screamed as she fell to her knees, crying and pleading with a God that would never answer.  The reality that she had been fighting since the moment she had regained consciousness poured into her, flooding to every inch of her being.  As she tried to block out the image of the body hanging from the Church, Basta yanked her hair and pulled her to her feet again.

“That’s what’s waiting for you if you don’t behave” Basta hissed in her ear before he pulled her into the Church again.